One Last Gift_A Small-Town Romance Read online

  “Where’s it coming from? Like you have to ask. You left Oak Grove ten years ago. You left me. And you have to ask where this is coming from? You don’t bother to come home in all that time, and you expect me to fall at your feet when you do?”

  He raised his eyebrows. His mouth quirked into that little smile she used to love. For just a minute, he looked like the boy she’d fallen in love with. The one who had broken her heart when he left. “As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what you did.”

  “I was surprised to see you, that’s all. I’m not anymore.” Didn’t he have anything to say about his dad almost dying? That it took a crisis to bring him home, and he’d come here before actually checking on his father? “If that’s all, I have work to do. We’re pretty busy today.”

  She stomped toward the safety of her office. She’d grab a few minutes alone before dealing with the next challenge life planned on throwing her way. Jack always had the ability to knock her off-kilter and today was no exception.

  Unfortunately, the man in question fell into step beside her. “You’ve done a good job, Casey.” His voice was soft, gentle. Much like it had been growing up, during their stolen moments in the back of his truck down by the river. And that one night that ended with tragic consequences.

  “Thanks. Is that all?” She waved her hand to dismiss him, hoping he’d take the hint and walk away.

  “Yeah, I’ll get out of your hair for now. I’m heading to see Mom and Dad. But I’ll be back.”

  She wasn’t sure if his words were a threat…or a promise. She’d had enough of his promises to last a lifetime.

  Chapter Three

  JACK MADE HIS way down the familiar streets to his childhood home. A short hour later, Mom was tucked safely in the passenger seat of Dad’s truck while Jack drove to the hospital. It had been years since he’d driven the truck—the same truck Dad had had when Jack left town—and almost nothing had changed.

  Dad’s fleece-lined jacket and hat laid on the seat like they were waiting for him to come back, and an evergreen-shaped air freshener hung from the rearview mirror like it had every day of Jack’s life.

  Dad loved his trees.

  That was why Jack was so surprised when he’d found Casey running the lot. Doing the job Jack had expected to inherit when he grew up. But things changed. Despite the hurt in Dad’s eyes when Jack announced he was leaving town, his parents supported his choice and never expressed any disappointment that Jack hadn’t followed in the family business.

  He covered Mom’s hand on the seat. “I wish you’d have told me that Dad wasn’t feeling well before it got this bad.”

  “You know your father, too stubborn for his own good. If it wasn’t for Casey…”

  Yeah, Casey. Jack’s head had been spinning since the moment he’d heard her voice. He couldn’t blame her for being mad at him. He’d asked her to move to Boston with him. Practically begged her. But she insisted on staying in Oak Grove and Jack just couldn’t.

  For a long time, he couldn’t even think about coming back. Then days became weeks and weeks became months. Before he knew it, years had passed and he didn’t know how to come home anymore.

  “That sweet girl. She was so shaken up. Thank God she found your dad when she did or he might not…”

  What was this about Casey? “Casey found him?”

  “She was walking in the upper lot and Dad was lying on the ground. She called 9-1-1 and then performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. They say that’s the only reason he survived. If she’d been even a couple minutes later…”

  Why hadn’t Casey told him she’d found Dad? He would have said something. Thanked her instead of arguing about their relationship and how he’d left. Instead he’d teased her and questioned her running of the lot.

  Casey was right—Jack was a bastard. But he was here now.

  A few minutes later, he stepped into the hospital lobby with Mom by his side. His mind immediately flashed back to another trip here. One he’d never recovered from. Casey’s grief-stricken face filled his mind. The fat tears rolling down her cheeks that he was powerless to stop haunted him. He remembered his own tears falling as he scooped her up and held her close.

  He’d deluded himself into believing that if he shut himself off from emotional connections that he would never suffer the pain of loss again. Now here he was, his father clinging to life. A life saved by the woman who’d shared the most painful experience of Jack’s life.

  He and Mom stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor to the stench of antiseptic and the squeak of shoes on the linoleum floor. The sign on the opposite wall greeted him with a grim announcement—Cardiac Ward. Those words made everything real.

  Why had Jack waited so long to come home? Why had his visits with his parents been restricted to when they could come see him? All this time, he’d told himself he was too busy to visit, but that was crap. He was a coward who couldn’t face the grief that Oak Grove held.

  No more. He was here now, and things were going to change.

  His cell phone beeped in his pocket, and he pushed the button to silence it. Jack’s work had been piling up since he’d left Boston earlier today, but Dad was his focus now. Jack would check his messages when he returned to the house.

  The more immediate concern, after his father, was how he was going to scrub Casey out of his mind. It had only taken a single encounter for her to worm her way back into his soul, into the places he’d packed away and hoped never to see again.

  Her eyes had sparkled in anger when she spat her words at him. The little five-foot-two spitfire got spun up on a moment’s notice. He’d loved her passion, but the flames had gone out after…well, before he left. It was good to see she’d found her spark again.

  Mom stepped into a room in front of the nurses station and Jack followed.

  “Hey, Sid, someone’s here to see you.”

  Dad grumbled from behind the curtain. “I don’t wanna see nobody. I just want to get the hell out of here.”

  Jack pulled the curtain aside. “Nice to see you too, Dad.”

  The scowl on Dad’s face turned into a smile, and his eyes widened. “Boy, get yourself in here and give me a hug.”

  Jack wrapped his arms around Dad’s narrow, weak shoulders. Dad hadn’t been this fragile when his parents had visited him in Boston a few months ago. In a short time, his father had aged years.

  “Hell, Jack, if I’d known having a little heart trouble woulda gotten you home, I’da had one long before now.”

  “Don’t even joke about that, old man.”

  Mom fussed with the bedside table, shifting the colorful flowers and refilling the water cup. Mom always kept busy. That was why Jack was so surprised that she wasn’t involved with the day-to-day operations of the lot. She and Dad had always worked it, side by side. It had to be killing her to see Dad laid up in the bed. “Your color’s better today, honey.”

  “Quit yer fussin, woman, and come over and visit with our boy. How ya been, Jack? How’s business?”

  Jack helped Mom settle into the chair beside Dad’s bed and then perched on the windowsill. He wasn’t sure how to answer that question—he hadn’t spent an entire day out of touch since he’d started his investment firm seven years ago. Who knew what had happened at the office since he’d boarded a plane this morning? “Business is good, but I’m here to see you. How are you doing?”

  Jack’s gaze followed Dad’s hand when he pressed his chest. Jack’s own heart lurched. What if Dad had died? “Fine. Old ticker just had a little hiccup. I’ll be back out there before you know it. There’s stuff to do, ya know.”

  “Don’t worry about that. You need to get better first. I’m here and I’ll help out as much as I can.” Whether Casey would accept his help or not.

  Dad nodded and scrubbed his hand over his chin. “All kinds of changes since you been gone. I’m lucky I put that Casey in charge. She’s done some great things these past couple of years.”

  Did Dad not want Jack hel
ping with the farm? It sounded as though things were well in hand with Casey. Maybe he could visit for a few days and return to Boston without seeing Casey again. “I stopped by. The lot looks great.”

  Mom gasped. “You stopped by? I thought you’d come to the house first.”

  Maybe they hadn’t wanted him to know Casey was running the business. They’d certainly had plenty of opportunities to tell him, yet they hadn’t. “I wanted to check things out, see where I could help while you’re laid up.”

  “So you’ve seen her?” Mom’s voice was soft, her concern apparent.

  His parents knew how heartbroken Jack had been when Casey hadn’t moved to Boston with him. And they were the only other ones who knew about Jack and Casey’s private grief. He couldn’t bear to share it with anyone else. The heartbreak had been too raw when he made his plans to leave town. Once he left, he’d shoved all of his painful memories of Oak Grove aside. “Yeah. It was quite the reunion.”

  Jack laughed as he shared how Casey had fainted when she’d seen him and then read him the riot act for not coming home sooner. His parents shared a few stolen glances. What did they know that he didn’t?

  “Jackie, hun, how about you go get yourself a cup of coffee?”

  Mom fussed with a handkerchief in her lap. “Oh, honey, I’m fine.”

  “Then how about you give me a few minutes with my boy?”

  Jack marveled at his parents’ exchange. Dad might sound gruff, but there was so much love between the two of them. How many years had it taken them to become so content with each other? Jack had thought he and Casey shared that kind of comfort and love when they were together, but age and experience had proven to him they’d been young and naïve about the realities of life. Maybe if they’d been a little older, more mature, they could have weathered the grief neither of them should have experienced.

  Mom rose. “Oh, all right. I’ll check in with the nurses. See if I can get the real story on how your night was, instead of your whitewashed version.” Mom kissed Dad on the forehead and spared a quick glance at Jack before leaving the room.

  After she stepped out of the room and the door clicked closed, Dad’s gaze turned on Jack. “She fusses over me too much.”

  “She loves you.” Jack had never doubted the ferocity of his parents’ love for one another. Or for him. Unlike many of his high school classmates, he’d never been afraid his parents might split up.

  As his love with Casey had grown, he’d hoped to have the kind of relationship his parents had.

  But one night had changed everything, and Jack had shut himself off to love ever since. As a wealthy business man in Boston, he’d had his share of socialites on his arm at a party or between the sheets for a few steamy hours. But he hadn’t allowed any of them to crack the icy shell he’d built around his heart.

  A shell that had split wide open the minute he’d had Casey in his arms.

  Jack could use the excuse of his father’s heart attack for why he was so shaken, but it would be a lie. Casey had broken through his carefully built walls without even trying.

  He couldn’t let her sneak any deeper into his soul. He’d barely survived the last time.

  “Took ya long enough about comin’ home.”

  “I saw you guys a few months ago.” For years, he’d claimed to be too busy to visit, and his parents had always obliged him. But that excuse fell flat now, seeing his dad laid up in the sterile hospital room, surrounded by the machines helping him recover.

  “It isn’t the same, and you know it.”

  He sighed. It had been too long. “Yeah, I know. But I’m here now.”

  “For how long?”

  Wasn’t that the question of the hour?

  Before Jack answered, Dad barreled through the conversation. “We could really use your help. Casey says she’s doing fine by herself, but there’s a lot of work to be done. I worry about that girl and…”

  What were Mom and Dad not telling him about Casey? “And what?”

  “Nothin. She’s just working too hard these days. I want you to help her out, Jack. Just through the season.” Dad covered Jack’s hand. “Please?”

  Jack ran through the long list of tasks waiting for him back in Boston, and the vibration in his pocket indicated more to be done. He’d somehow convinced himself that he could check in on Dad and jet back to Boston. Nope. His original plan to squeeze work in between hours at the tree lot would have to be enough. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d worked long hours. It was how he’d built his firm into one of the most successful in Boston in the first place.

  So much for making sure the manager had things in hand and then heading home. Hopefully he and Casey could work side by side for a few weeks. Jack would keep his defenses up and no matter what, not touch her again. Certainly not hold her in his arms like he had. He’d liked it. Too much. “Of course, I’ll help. Don’t worry about anything except getting better.”

  “Good, good. That girl has had a rough time of it. She shouldn’t be having to worry about me on top of everything else.”

  Now he was really intrigued by what was going on with Casey. And since he was going to be in Oak Grove for a few weeks, he planned to find out.

  Chapter Four

  “RILEY!” CASEY HOLLERED down the hall to her son’s room. She didn’t know why she bothered. He probably had his headphones on with his nose buried in a book.

  That was just as well. Dinner wouldn’t be ready for a few more minutes, and she could use this time to decompress. Sid’s heart attack had rattled her, sure, but seeing Jack was worse. She should have expected it, but he hadn’t visited Oak Grove since he’d left her behind. He’d spent the ensuing years in Boston where she didn’t have to see his ruggedly handsome face or smell the musky scent of the aftershave he still insisted on wearing.

  But those were the only things that hadn’t changed about Jack. His shoulders and chest were broader. He clearly worked out, even more than the hours he used to spend in the weight room in high school. And his suit? Casey hadn’t seen clothes like that in Oak Grove, since maybe ever. There was no way they weren’t custom made, with his initials embroidered on the shirt cuffs. He was nothing like the jeans-clad boy she’d fallen in love with.

  He’d changed so much while Casey had stayed the same. Well, except for one major thing.

  What would he think about the life she built here for herself? Of her son? Did he know she had a child? She’d asked Sid and Jackie not to tell him, but she didn’t know for sure if they’d kept her secret. Not that Riley was a secret. She’d just wanted to avoid the inevitable conversation with Jack. It wasn’t his business.

  She thought back to those days after they’d lost their son. The baby they never got to meet. She and Jack had planned to get married and raise their family together. Then after Travis died, Jack left town. He’d asked her to go, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t leave the only real home she’d ever known, where she had been so happy with Jack, and where her son was buried in the little graveyard behind the church. But Jack had no problem leaving the memories, and her, behind.

  Did he think about their baby at all? Ever? Travis’s loss had haunted her, driven her into a depression. Only after Riley was born had she been able to redirect her loss into love for him. Love for the baby she held, happy and healthy, in her arms.

  A few minutes later, she knocked on Riley’s door and nudged it open. As expected, Riley was sprawled on his bed, feet swinging in the air, head bobbing to the music blasting through his headphones with a book spread wide in his hands. She stared for a minute. Her little boy was growing up. She often had to remind herself that he was eight years old. He was “an old soul,” Sid and Jackie had always said. While most kids his age had Legos scattered on the floor, Riley kept his neat and tidy, with his models lined up on the dresser and his clothes tucked away in his dresser and closet.

  She crossed the room and tapped her son on the shoulder. His head snapped around and a wide grin spread across his face. He
ripped the headphones off. “Sorry, Mom. I didn’t hear you.”

  God, she loved this boy. She ruffled his hair. “Dinner’s ready.”

  “Yay!” Riley leapt from the bed and hustled down the hall. Casey followed behind at a much more sedate pace. She envied Riley’s energy. She’d been like that once. Now she had trouble remembering the girl who hadn’t had a care in the world other than when the cute boy in her class would smile at her and whether he would ask her out.

  “Oh man, chicken parm and spaghetti. My favorite.” Riley helped her get dinner on the table and they both sat. Sure, it was only the two of them, but Casey relished this time she had with her son.

  “So, what’s your high?” Casey asked her son as he shoved a bite of chicken in his mouth. They’d started this game years ago, talking about the best and worst of their days, when she’d had more trouble starting conversations with her son. He’d have been happy to sit and eat and read, but that wasn’t the kind of relationship she wanted.

  “Mark Dawson asked me to play basketball in gym class. And he said there’s a spot on his team starting in January. Can I play? Please, Mom?” Riley practically vibrated with excitement.

  Basketball team? How much did that cost? She made enough to take care of herself and Riley, but not a lot of extras. She would be putting in a lot of long hours leading up to Christmas, especially with Sid being out. She’d planned to tuck some of that extra money away, but how could she say no when Riley smiled at her with hope filling his eyes? “We can probably do that. Let me look into it and I’ll let you know.”

  “Yes!” He fist-pumped and then shoved a bite of spaghetti in his mouth. “What about you? What’s your high for today?”

  Casey never had a problem finding something positive to share with her son. She thanked God for him every day and refused to dwell on the depression that had driven her into another man’s arms nine years ago. How could it be anything other than wonderful when the result was this boy sitting across from her?